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Using an Animated Explainer Video to boost conversion

Author's avatar By Expert commentator 18 Mar, 2014
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8 tips on how to plan and execute your animated video to support conversion

A tailored marketing video can engage potential customers and start them on their journey through your sales funnel.

Since there’s a lot to harmonize on your website and across your marketing channels; often irrelevant, complex and tedious information will drive your visitors away.

A video can take the place of text and provide a far more appealing method for communicating with prospective customers.

  • 1.Target your market

Appealing to the right consumers with your online content is crucial. An animated explainer video placed across your online platforms can be highly effective at achieving this.  A tailored animation can captivate your audience immediately and tell them about your product or service in an engaging way.

Whether your video is viewed on your landing page, on a streaming site like Vimeo, or on one of your social networks, including the right content and style will give the best chances of it retaining key consumers.

  • 2. Stand out from the noise

Web browsers are inundated with information and they will only stop at those that grab them, so don’t waste your chance. Whether you’re targeting consumers or businesses, your approach can make you stand out.

Take a look at this explainer video from The PiXL Club, which is focuses on sharing new ideas with school leaders.

A whiteboard video fits perfectly with the teaching theme, grabbing the attention of school heads. The dynamic graphics and authoritative voiceover keep these viewers engaged.

If targeted viewers are retained until they reach the call-to-action, then there is far more chance of a conversion

  • 3. Use the right style

You can contrast this video with the sophisticated animated commercials by Rolls Royce. Sophisticated is probably not the first word that comes to mind when thinking of animation, but it is certainly a trait that comes to mind when picturing a typical customer of this refined car brand.

Animation lays open a grand scope for attracting and retaining your market, it’s not all about funny cartoon characters, so allow yourself to be innovative, and you will likely capture your customers’ imaginations.

  • 4. Answer consumers’ questions

Having pictured your typical customer, you should relate to them in your animation. If the viewers can resonate with the hero in your video, they’re more likely to continue watching and learn about your product.

The divergence between what the hero needs and where he/she is now engages viewers, as they anticipate finding the answers to their dilemma. They will also become drawn to the story, to which cliffhangers can add appeal.

Animation, after all, is a great tool for storytelling. Ensure this inspiring story shows what your product and service offers, and conversions should be just around the corner.

  • 5. Appeal to viewers’ emotions

Captivating visitors at the start of a video is key to keeping them watching, and triggering visceral emotions is an efficient method for doing this. Think back to those videos that go viral and you’ll notice that they tend to do just this.

With you typical customer in mind, you might be able to target them with an appropriate emotion.

Humour is very popular, but different people will laugh at quite diverse stimulants. This is also similar when attempting to trigger excitement. Joy and anticipation can also appeal to a wide audience, while generating feelings of horror may be suited more to some groups than others.

Whichever emotions you decide on, animation is a practical tool for delivering. You can let your imagination run wild so finding an innovative way of providing that motivation needn’t be too challenging.

  • 6. Entertain and inform

Your explainer video doesn’t need to tell your viewer absolutely everything. The primary idea is to engage their interest and this will prompt a conversion, and they can find out more.

Present the most important information in your animated video, packaged with attractive graphics and a style that makes it simple and entertaining to follow.

  • 7. Convey more with animation

If you need to share a lot of information, then animation can actually communicate this far more quickly and easily than text.

The fusion of images, sounds, voiceovers and music, accompanied by a quality script, can make even the most complex or tedious service appealing.

This approach also avoids overwhelming your visitors, which often occurs when they’re presented with all this information in text.

FedEx explains the company’s sustainable initiative in an enchanting way in the following video, making the concept intriguing to a wider visitor base than text might reach.

This explainer video also communicates a feeling of trust and corporate social responsibility; ethics such as this will also impact on whether conversions are reached.

The more information and values you’re able to share, the more comfortable your visitors will be about contacting you or making a purchase.

  • 8. Enhance brand recall

Once your quality, targeted animated video is viewed by potential consumers, this will likely stay in their minds and promote brand recall in the future. Animations can become synonymous with your product and brand.

If the right message and values are expressed, this can be highly valuable to brand image and loyalty, leading to more and more conversions.

Find the best style with which to convey a focused message to your market via animated video, and this could give a considerable boost to conversions

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By Expert commentator

This is a post we've invited from a digital marketing specialist who has agreed to share their expertise, opinions and case studies. Their details are given at the end of the article.

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Explainer videos for marketing

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